Cat Gloria is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. An Advertising major and a French and Francophone Studies minor at the University of Florida, she is studying abroad in Dublin this semester.

In this week's post, Cat spends time at a food festival, Taste of Dublin, recommends what to try.

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I don't think I've mentioned it yet but I am a huge foodie. On the third day of my internship here in Dublin my boss mentioned a local food festival to me.  The event was called Taste of Dublin. So I went home, did some research on it, and there I was one week later, frolicking aimlessly through Iveagh gardens trying an assortment of fine dining.

A bit about Taste of Dublin. Taste Festivals is a global brand that organizes worldwide food festivals or as they call it, "foodie heaven". The Taste of Dublin food festival came to town Thursday the 15^th to Sunday the 18^th bringing in food lovers from all over the world. This year’s theme was “Flavors of the World”, reflecting Dublin’s ever diversifying food landscape. I decided to attend the Thursday evening block of the event.

Will you represent your study abroad city as one of our official CAPA bloggers or vloggers for Fall semester 2017?

Depending on your program length, each student on our team of storytellers will receive a grant of up to $425 along with up to $225 as an explorer fund to help you create awesome weekly content for the CAPA World blog. 

Besides helping finance their adventures, previous CAPA bloggers and vloggers have loved the experience for a bunch of different reasons: 

A CAPA Study Abroad Alumna Interview: Rikki Li

Meet Rikki Li, an English Writing and Psychology major from the University of Pittsburgh and former CAPA official blogger who studied abroad in London during Spring 2016. Below, she talks about how being a writer and literature fan shaped her perception of the city, how she explored her own identity in London's diversity, and what the word "home" really means.

CAPA WORLD: Tell us a bit about yourself.
RIKKI LI: I recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor’s in English Writing and Psychology. When I decided to study abroad in London my junior year, I remember telling myself, “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” I’m still not exactly sure what I hoped to find, or what I believed I had lost—maybe a sense of direction, or an enthusiasm for the present—but I do know that I wanted something “more.” Something different.

While I spend a good portion of my time writing (or thinking about writing), I also enjoy cooking/baking, reading Marvel comics, browsing Tumblr, and learning my way through Adobe Creative Cloud. 

You know that when you study and live in a new country, you'll be exposed to a variety of cultural differences that you're not used to. Over time, these unspoken rules become the norm and after a few weeks you'll be settled in and not even give them a second thought. But what happens to these new mannerisms when you return home? You might start to experience a phenomenon called "reverse culture shock", which is what happens when you find yourslef struggling to adjust to going back to old habits and places. Since it may take time to get used to your old (yet new) surroundings, we came up with 10 ways to help you acclimate to no longer being abroad.

1. Continue to do activities that you did while abroad

If you started playing a sport such as badminton while you were abroad, try to find somewhere where you can continue to play it. If you took up singing, join a choir at home! Whatever the activity or hobby is, don’t just give it up because you're not abroad. It is likely that you’ll be able to continue in a local club, or at your university.

Sally Rountree is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology major and Public Health minor at Simmons College, she is studying abroad in Buenos Aires on a custom program this semester.

In this week's post, Sally tells us about a particular chance encounter after her arrival that reminded her of home.

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Yesterday morning, we landed in Argentina after thirteen hours of being in the air and made our way to the city of Buenos Aires. I already love this experience. These past 30 hours have been filled with confusion, surprise, amazement, and laughter. I feel like I have been with this group of students for far more than two days. I can tell time here is going to pass quickly.

So far we’ve spent most of our time walking around the city exploring and taking tours. On our various excursions, we’ve met several locals. The first local we talked to who wasn’t related to the program we are studying through here talked to us in a small convenience store. She was really sweet and was able to speak in English, which was good because I unfortunately do not speak Spanish. She was very willing to talk to us and let us ask questions about her home country.

“Connecting Global Cities” is a monthly column written by Colin Speakman, Resident Director for CAPA Shanghai.

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This is a topical area as last month Beijing held a Conference on One Belt One Road (OBOR) or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

It was pretty important as it attracted over 65 world leaders directly involved with the project and was dominated by EurAsian powers for geographical reasons.

Photo: President Xi and President Putin at the conference - AP public domain

Niah Humphrey is an official CAPA vlogger for spring 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A communication major with a minor in Spanish at Auburn University, she is studying abroad in Buenos Aires this semester.

In this week's post, Niah shows us scenes from the farewell dinner and tells us what she's learned through her experience.

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Thanks, Niah!

Niah's journey continues every Thursday so stay tuned.

We've all had those times where we find ourselves sitting at our computer for 45 minutes, staring at the bliking line at the begining of a word document. We end up not writing a single sentence that we’re happy with despite knowing how important the essay is. If you're finding it hard to start writing a scholarship essay, you're not the only one. How can you write something that's compelling, honest, and really conveys why you deserve this gift that will help you study abroad?

Photo: public domain

When wondering where to start, be creative. Whichever scholarship foundation you're applying to is likely to receive many applications, so the more creative and unique your essay is the more likely it will stand out. Be sure to read the prompt carefully and then tailor your story to that question. Point out the most unique parts of your story to make it as special as possible, so that you're exciting the reader and not boring them.

Seth Neu is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2017, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Marketing & Management Information Systems major at the University of Minnesota, he is studying abroad in London this semester.

In this week's post, Seth talks about exploring how the city of London is developing through field visits.

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When considering classes to take abroad, my only criteria was that they were not some mundane courses that I could just as easily take at my home university. So, fitting my criteria perfectly, I elected to take a class entitled "Exploring and Analyzing the Global City: London". A class revolving around exploration of the themes, history, and people that have molded London into the megalopolis that it is today, and how this extends to the rest of the world. The best part of the class being the weekly field trips, meaning half the class is spent traversing new parts of London.

Photo: view from Greenwich Hill

Madeline Messina is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. An Advertising major and a French and Francophone Studies minor at the University of Florida, she is studying abroad in Dublin this semester.

In this week's post, Madeline talks about using the DART to see sites surrounding Dublin, and why the most memorable ones were free.

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One of the most alluring aspects of Ireland is it’s wild, rugged, untamed natural landscape. In Dublin, it is easy to forget about the untouched countryside when swallowed by the mass of pubs, hotels and shops. I love Dublin. I feel such an energy in the city. But it doesn’t compare to the feeling of complete freedom when walking through the emerald hillside.

This past weekend I used my DART card to travel to different areas in County Dublin. The first location we visited was the Powerscourt Estate and Gardens. It cost us 6€.